Our View: Coming closure of prison a gut punch — and opportunity?

The stunning disclosure Thursday that the federal prison camp north of Duluth is going to be shut down came as a blindsided gut punch — to say the least.

“We were not aware that this conversation was even taking place,” Duluth Mayor Roger Reinert told the News Tribune .

Just days earlier, there was no mention at all of even a possibility of the facility being closed during the annual luncheon meeting of the Hermantown Area Chamber of Commerce. That’s even though the prison is one of that city’s largest employers, with 89 workers overseeing and caring for 736 minimum-security, male prisoners. Instead, the economic forecast for the coming year in Hermantown “is bright,” as the News Tribune reported , quoting chamber President and CEO Kim Parmeter. Clearly, no one at the luncheon of business leaders had been given any inkling either.

In spite of it being a federal decision, the Office of U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said the day following the announcement that it was left “still gathering the facts.” In an exclusive statement to the News Tribune Opinion page, Smith’s office stated the unexpected development “raises serious concerns for employees and the broader community. Senator Smith is committed to ensuring workers are supported and that the community’s needs are prioritized.”

In making its announcement, the Federal Bureau of Prisons noted that the camp suffers from “an aging and dilapidated infrastructure, including several condemned buildings that have contaminants such as asbestos and lead paint.” The bureau also cited “severe staffing issues” and ”budgetary constraints,” suggesting those factors, too, led to what we in the Northland can only hope was a difficult decision.

The Federal Prison Camp, Duluth is one of just eight such facilities operating in the U.S. It’s been a fixture here and a dependable employer since 1983, its opening making use of structures abandoned by the decommissioning of Duluth’s U.S. Air Force Base.

While somewhat explaining itself — even if it was after the wrenching decision was already made — the federal bureau failed in apparently giving no one in Duluth, Hermantown, or elsewhere any warning that conditions at the prison were deteriorating so badly — or that a nuclear solution like outright closure was being contemplated. Were repairs, operating or other changes, or improvements even considered? Our region is pretty good about turning out in numbers to brainstorm and rally around fixes, especially when it means heading off a major blow to our local economy and community.

Federal officials could have given us a chance here.

And they certainly owe our region a chance now to be actively involved as decisions are made about how best to use the soon-to-be-abanonded-again site next door to Duluth International Airport. Surely, considering Duluth’s burgeoning aviation industry, including Cirrus Aircraft, this closure can be seen as an opportunity, a chance for a more-appropriate and far-more-productive use of the valuable land.

“If we had one ask of the feds it would be: Don’t just close and leave it,” Mayor Reinert said in the newspaper story. “Instead, work with us on transitioning it to a productive reuse.”

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s office vowed she’d be involved in what comes next. “The senator will be taking this on with both the current and the next administration to ensure the best future for the workers and the community,” a spokesperson for the senator said in an exclusive statement to the News Tribune Opinion page Friday.

Workers at the prison will have the opportunity to relocate to other facilities, and some will be reshuffled within the remaining idled facility, a federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman told the News Tribune. Federal officials remain “committed to finding positions for every employee who wants to remain with the agency,” he said.

The bureau also vowed to conduct an assessment of the Hermantown facility as part of the closure, “to determine the next steps,” the spokesman said.

The feds can do better than that. After its facility has been such an important part of our community for more than four decades, the bureau owes it to Duluth, Hermantown, and our region to include us in the decision-making regarding what comes next and the opportunities that are sure to abound for the attractive site.

So we’re not blindsided again.